Knowledge is Power
by Wolf Moon Requiem
Summary: Cyborg finds a friend from the past who has some major attitude problems. He wants to help her, but will her pride let her be helped? And more importantly who's looking for her and what will happen when they find her?
1. Chapter 1

Knowledge is power.

By: Wolf Moon Requiem

A/N: You know the drill I only own the things other people don't.

"Some things never change huh kid?"

"Says you Tin Man"

The old nickname was especially fitting now a days but coming from this particular person it sounded almost like a curse. Leaning against a brick wall Cyborg sighs

"I came back for you, you know"

"Course ya did"

The five and a half feet of attitude next to him takes a drag of her cigarette and stares off into the night.

"Where did you disappear to?"

"I had places to go, people to meet"

"You were seven…"

"So?"

Cyborg sighs again

"I miss you Cass"

The girl next to him cringes and throws her cigarette on the ground.

"That's not my name, its Books now"

Her deminar softens but only for a moment.

"I miss you to Vic"

A man's head appears from around the corner and her softness is gone.

"Yo Books lets go the big man's here"

Books stomps on her still lit cigarette and walks off

"Catch ya later Tin Man"

It only takes her being out of his sight for a moment for Cyborg to decide to chase after her. He rushes around the corner only to see the door of a fancy looking car closing. He curses to himself and fires a tracking beacon out of his arm at the cars bumper as its driving past.

Cyborg follows the cars signal to the shadier part of the city and finds it parked outside what looks like an abandoned house. He parks next to the car wondering what he should do until he hears an un-mistakenly female scream. Almost without thinking he jumps out of the car and busts through the front door into the houses living room.

Books is leaning against one of the walls, a switchblade sticking out of her left leg. Several cuts and bruises are beginning to form on her body but all these injuries are minor compared to what Cyborg has in mind for the three men standing across from his childhood friend.

Cyborg busting into the room is all the distraction Books needs however to turn the fight to her advantage. She pulls the switchblade out of her leg and flips it in her hand. With an almost casual toss she hurls it towards the middle man and smiles (almost psychotically) when it buries itself into his throat. Still smiling she looks at the other two who are staring at their fallen boss in shock.

"Run"

They heed her advice but make the mistake of trying to run past Cyborg who grabs both of them by their collars and slams their heads together efficiently knocking them out. He drops them to the ground and rushes over to Books who is slowly sinking to the ground holding her leg. He helps her sit on the ground ignoring the pissed off look she's giving him

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"I followed you to make sure you were going to be ok. Looks like it's a good thing I did to!"

"I didn't need your help I had everything under control"

She tries to stand but Cyborg scoops her up into his arms before she can protest. He chuckles a little

"Sure you did"

Cyborg swiftly deposits Books into the car and calls the police to come pick up the other gangsters. After a slight argument with Books he calls an ambulance as well ("He's not dead you dumb ass! I hit his vocal chords so unless he bleeds out the fuck face will be fine!") and then takes off towards the tower.

When they are safely in the medical wing he deposits her onto a bed and ignoring her threats uses his communicator to call Raven to them. When the demon sorceress enters the medical wing she is shocked to see Cyborg cleaning the wound on another girl's leg with antiseptic wipes. Even more suppressing is the fact that the girl is practically attacking him while he does so and spitting out words that would make the most hardened sailor blush. She waves her hands in the air and the other girl is bound by dark energy ropes. Books screams her rage at not being able to move and struggles against the binds while Cyborg stands and greets his friend.

"She wasn't hurting me Rae."

"Who is she?"

"It's a long story could we talk later? Right now I need your help with her leg. The knife cut pretty deep I'm afraid she won't be able to walk."

Raven walks over to the girl with weary eyes. Cyborg is like a brother to her otherwise she would have never put up with being asked to do such an annoying task.

"I have to release her in order to heal her leg."

Cyborg nods and moves behind Books

"Don't you dare touch me! I don't want your fucking help"

Both titans ignore her and Cyborg grabs her in a bear hug locking her arms to her sides. He pulls her into a standing position and squeezes her uninjured leg between his own rendering her completely motionless so that Raven can safely work on her leg.

It only takes a few seconds for Raven to see that Cyborg was right, without her help the girl wouldn't be walking on that leg any time soon. The damage from the knife being so carelessly pulled from her leg had shredded the muscle, not an easy thing to heal from naturally. Raven closed her eyes and began chanting the healing words and she laid two black glowing hands on the wound.

"I swear to god I hate you Victor! I fucking hate you! Let me the fuck go right now so I can kick your ass!"

Several minutes later Books leg is as good as new and Raven moves out of the way to avoid the girl's ungrateful kick. Raising her hands Raven prepares to bind the girl again but Cyborg shakes his head,

"No its ok Rae she has to work through this trust me."

He let's go of Books and immediately blocks a punch to his face. Several more follow and for the next half hour Raven watches in barely concealed anger as Books destroys a few thousand dollars worth of equipment and tries her best to hurt her fellow titan.

When Books energy is depleted as Cyborg knew it would be she plops to the ground breathing heavily.

"Better now?"

Books glares at Cyborg and gives him the middle finger which to her annoyance only makes him laugh.

"You're still just like a little kid huh Cass? All that spunk and fight and then you just drop"

"Shut the fuck up Victor I told you my name is Books now"

"Yeah yeah"

He walks over to the girl and scoops her up into his arms. He guesses that she doesn't have enough energy left to attack him anymore and lucky for him he's right. Cyborg motions for Raven to follow them to his room and she complies curious to hear why he's putting up with this girl.

When they enter the room he drops Books onto the bed and covers her fully with a blanket. He motions for Raven to sit on a couch in the corner and starts to explain their history.

"Cass was an orphan girl who lived in my neighborhood. No one really knew where she came from or who her parents were but she would hide in one of the abandoned houses and steal what she needed. The other kids would make fun of her because of how she looked but in reality she was a sweet girl with a big heart. It didn't take everyone long to figure out she was different and that just gave them more ammo to tease her with. We became friends when she stopped me from falling into the local river and were pretty much inseparable until my accident. I lost touch with her until today."

Raven nods in understanding about needing to reconnect with your past.

"So what are you going to do with her now?"

"Well to be honest I was hoping she could stay here. She does have a power after all and once she settles in she'll be a big help to us."

"A power? How did she get beat up so bad if she has a power to defend herself with?"

"It's not an offensive power Rae, Cass knows things."

"Knows things? Like what"

A sleepy voice answers her from under the blanket.

"Your name is Raven Ariella Roth daughter of Ariella Roth and the trans-dimensional demon king Trigon. When you go out in public you use the name Rachelle Roth to avoid being recognized as a titan. Your home planet Azarath was destroyed by your father and when he tried to do the same to earth you and the other titans stopped him and sent him back to his prison in hell."

A large yawn ends Books rant and the blanket rustles as she moves into a more comfortable position and falls back asleep. Most of that info could have come from Cyborg except for her mother's name; no one on earth knew her mother's name that alone was proof of the girl's power to Raven. Cyborg gives her a moment to process everything Books said before explaining how her power works.

"When you touched her leg to heal it she started to learn. The longer physical contact is held the more she learns. She probably doesn't know much more then what she just said.

Raven nods her head and makes a mental note to stay as far away from this new girl as she can. There are some things about her past that are better left unknown. Cyborg pulls the blanket off of Books face to make sure that she's still asleep and when he's sure she is he chuckles

"Same as always, she fights so hard and then just passes right out"

Raven fights the urge to roll her eyes and follows Cyborg out of his room. They find Robin in the workout room and he agrees to call a meeting in the morning to discuss the possibility of Cyborg's guest staying. They part ways and Cyborg returns to his room where he watches over Books throughout the rest of the night.


	2. Chapter 2

Knowledge is power.

By: Wolf Moon Requiem

A/N: You know the drill I only own the things other people don't.

Early the next morning Robin calls a meeting and all the titans gather in the main room. Books is still asleep so Cyborg shows up alone. Robin clears his throat for quiet and then gives the floor to Cyborg.

"Morning everyone, I had Robin call everyone together because I wanted to talk to all of you about the possibility of a friend of mine living here with us. Her name is Cass and I've known her since we were little kids though to be honest we lost touch for a while when I came here. Before I answer any questions or you start to decide on your answer there are two things I want to tell you about her. One is that she does have a power but it's not an offensive one and two is that she does have some major anger issues that I want to help her work through so while she's here I want to take full responsibility for her actions."

Robin is the first to ask his question.

"What exactly is her power?"

"She can touch something and learn from it. The longer she has contact the more she knows."

"So if she touched a person would she be able to learn… let's say their name and where they live?"

"Maybe. I'm not totally sure what the boundaries and limitations on her powers are you would have to ask her."

Beast Boy is the only other person to have a question.

"When you say anger issues what exactly do you mean? Like is she a danger to us?"

Cyborg quickly shakes his head.

"No, no, no she doesn't have any kind of training in fighting and her power can't hurt people. The most she could do is throw something at you but I don't plan on leaving her alone long enough for anything like that to happen."

Starfire chimes in before the others can voice their opinions

"I think it will be a wonderful experience to have a new friend living with us in the tower"

Beast Boy agrees with Starfire and even Robin agrees to give her a chance as long as Cyborg takes responsibility for her actions. Its only Raven who remains quiet.

"Rae?"

"I don't know Cyborg. There are a lot of things that could go wrong with her living here. What if she ends up working for someone else and knows all these things about us? Can you guarantee that won't happen?"

Cyborg sadly shakes his head and looks down afraid the others will change their mind with this point brought up. Raven merely sighs at him.

"As long as the others say it's ok I won't stand in the way. I suppose that it's better for her to be here where you can keep an eye on her anyway."

Cyborg looks up with a smile on his face.

"Thanks Rae"

The meeting ends and Cyborg returns to his room to wake Books up and tell her the good news.

The noonday light is shining through the windows when Books opens her eyes and she instantly starts to panic. She shoots up in bed and Cyborg grabs a hold of her face to force her to look at him.

"Cass… breath it's me… your fine, everything is fine sweetie just breath."

Books breathing returns to normal and she pulls away from Cyborg. She stands up and ruffles her hair in annoyance.

"You're such a creeper Vic what the hell were you watching me sleep for? Jeaze you about near gave me a heart attack."

Cyborg chuckles at her as she tries to get her hair to lay flat on her head again.

"How about we get some breakfast? The others are waiting to meet you downstairs"

"Others? Oh hell no I'm good Tin Man just show me a way to the door it's time for Books to bounce."

She walks towards his bedroom door but his arm blocks her way.

"Cass…"

"No don't you Cass me Victor James Stone. You may be bigger than me but I learned a few tricks since you left and I'm not going to be put on display like some freak for your friends to stare at. You let me leave right now or YOU WILL REGRET IT!"

She shouts the last part hoping to make her threat clear.

"Cass it's not like that. I'm half robot, Beast Boys green, Raven is half demon and Starfire is an alien, that's about as freaky as you can get. Shoot you and Robin are probably the most normal people in this whole tower."

"Did you say Robin?"

Cyborg's face is pure confusion when he nods

"White kid, black hair used to hang out with Batman?"

Again the confused nod

"Do you know him or something?"

Books falls to the ground in a fit of laughter. She cant answer for a moment until she catches her breath

"Oh Victor… Victor, Victor, Victor, You do NOT want me to go down there. Take my word for it"

"What do you mean?"

Books shakes her head refusing to say anymore. After several minutes of silence on her part and annoyed questions from Cyborg, the metallic teen throws his hands up in frustration.

"Fine let's just go ask Robin then!"

Books shrugs

"Either way I'll get what I want so if you insist, lead the way."

Cyborg opens the door for her and she bolts through it sure she is quick enough to get out of his reach and down the hall before he can react. Cyborg chuckles as he grabs a hold of the back of her shirt and drags her down the hall way.

"I hate you"

"Yeah, yeah I know"

When they walk into the kitchen Robin jumps up out of his seat so fast that he knocks his plate to the floor and dumps his juice into Starfire's lap.

"Cassandra!"

He pulls out his bo staff and extends it to its full length

"Cyborg she's a criminal she works for the Joker how could you let her in the tower?!"

"Hello again bird brain, always a pleasure. Let's get one thing straight before we move on shall we? I USED to work for the Joker as in did but not anymore. I know that might be hard for your tiny mind to comprehend but do try your best wont you?"

Cyborg is the only one noticing that Books started to rub her left arm when she talks of leaving the Joker. When Robin answers its almost a growl

"No one quits working for the Joker."

"Well clearly I did or I wouldn't be standing here now would I? Jeaze I knew you were stupid boy blunder but this is ridiculous."

Books turns to try and slip by Cyborg although the action is half hearted and she's not surprised when Cyborg spins her back around.

"Cass… Explain now."

Books sighs and rolls her eyes

"I knew too much, he tried to off me, I found out, made him think it worked and then returned home. Less chance of him finding me here than in Gotham."

Robin scoffs at the thought of Books ever being smart enough to outsmart the Joker.

"And I suppose you came back here and started living a good honest life?"

Its Books turn to scoff

"Fuck no. I'm on the run stupid do you think I could just go get a job and a house without the Joker noticing?"

Books shakes her head and laughs while pulling up her right shirt sleeve to revile a tattoo of a red dragon wrapped around a black dagger.

"I found the most bad ass gang I could and made myself useful. I got myself a new family and a new way to survive."

Robin shakes his head in annoyance.

"So you admit that you're a criminal?"

"I admit that I did what I had to, to survive! Not all of us were lucky enough to be adopted by multi millionaires when our parents died bird boy!"

Cyborg can tell that Books is starting to loose her temper so he jumps in to try and cool the situation down.

"Look it doesn't matter what's happened in the past. Cass is here with us now and she's going to put her power to good use right?"

"Clearly you missed the part about me not staying…"

"You could always go to jail if that's more to your liking."

Robin smirks at her knowing that's the last thing that she'll want.

"Ok like you want me here"

"As a matter of fact I don't. I would rather see you rotting in a jail cell but Cyborg wants you here so I'm giving you the choice"

He puts his staff down and pulls out a pair of hand cuffs instead. He smiles as they swing back and forth. Cyborg is about to say something when Books dodges under his arm and makes another break for it. She makes it to the living room before a wall of dark energy cages her in.

"God damn it let me out! I know there are laws or something about keeping people where they don't wanna be!"

Robin starts to crack up

"Now you want to hide behind the law, after you've broken so many? Oh boy that's a laugh!"

Books turns around and jumps at Robin but Cyborg grabs her mid jump and throws her over his shoulder.

"Well I think that's enough for now. We'll be in the training room if anyone needs us."

He walks out of the room with Books cursing up a storm and pounding on his back.


End file.
